At least four lawsuits blaming the NFL for concussion-related dementia and brain disease will be consolidated in Philadelphia, and more could follow.
A US judicial panel approved requests on Tuesday by the NFL and plaintiffs lawyers to try similar cases before Senior US District Judge Anita Brody in Philadelphia.
The lawsuits represent more than 300 retired players or spouses, including two-time Super Bowl champion Jim McMahon.
“[This] allows Judge Brody to now bring everybody together and put this in an organized environment where all the legal issues and the medical issues and the scientific issues can all be decided in one place,” said lawyer Larry Coben of Philadelphia, who filed the first lawsuit in August on behalf of McMahon and six others.
The players accuse the NFL of negligence and intentional misconduct in its response to the headaches, dizziness and dementia that former players have reported. Some say they have no symptoms, but want to be monitored for future health problems.
Former Minnesota Vikings offensive lineman Brent Boyd is described by lawyers as the only living player so far diagnosed with chronic traumatic encephalopathy. The degenerative brain disease, known as CTE, has typically been found in autopsies of people who have had multiple head injuries, including more than a dozen former NFL and NHL players.
The NFL has vowed to vigorously defend the claims. Spokesman Brian McCarthy declined to comment on Tuesday, but the league had supported the consolidation in Philadelphia for logistical purposes.
In the first lawsuit, the NFL has tried to block Coben from taking wide-ranging depositions early on as the league seeks to have the lawsuit thrown out. The NFL said that the lawsuits were barred under the players’ collective bargaining agreements.
Brody delayed ruling on the depositions while she waited to see where the cases would end up.
The US Judicial Panel on Multi-District Litigation assigned them to her on Tuesday after meeting last week in Miami.
Brody will handle all pretrial issues, including potentially key rulings on what evidence can be used at trial, and whether a class can be certified for medical monitoring or other purposes. The cases might then return to the district where they were filed for trial, Coben said.
As many as a dozen similar NFL concussion lawsuits have been filed in New York, New Jersey, Georgia, Florida and Philadelphia. They, too, could end up before the same judge.
Brody spent a decade on the bench in suburban Montgomery County before former US president George H.W. Bush nominated her for a federal judgeship. She took office in 1992 and took senior status in 2009.
The Taoyuan Pauian Pilots on Sunday fell short in their bid for a first East Asia Super League (EASL) title after a 90-81 loss to Japan’s Utsunomiya Brex in Macau. The defeat marked the second straight year the defending P.League+ champions missed out on the EASL crown, but they remain the first team to reach back-to-back championship games in the league’s three-year history. The outcome was largely decided by long-range shooting. The Pilots struggled from beyond the arc, hitting just five of 20 attempts, while the Brex converted 19 three-pointers, shooting 46.3 percent from long range. Seven of the eight Brex players
Taiwanese boxer and Olympic gold medalist Lin Yu-ting has been approved to compete in the Asian Boxing Elite Championships, the Chinese Taipei Boxing Association (CTBA) said yesterday. The championships start on Saturday next week in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia. At the 2024 Paris Olympics, Lin became entangled in a gender controversy, despite the International Olympic Committee confirming her eligibility to compete as a female boxer. In August last year, World Boxing mandated a new regulation that required all athletes to undergo a polymerase chain reaction. genetic test to determine their sex at birth and their eligibility. Since the introduction of the test, Lin has missed several
ONE MORE CHANCE: While North Korea denied Taiwan in Australia, Taiwan, who last played in the World Cup in 1991, could still qualify via inter-confederation playoffs Taiwan yesterday lost 4-0 to a dominant North Korea in the AFC Women’s Asian Cup playoffs, closing off an avenue to qualify for the FIFA Women’s World Cup. Hong Song-ok scored a hat-trick in the match to determine the last of the confederation’s qualifiers from the tournament for next year’s World Cup in Brazil. With their victory over Taiwan, North Korea has qualified for the first time since a doping saga in 2011 led to their long absence from top-tier international tournaments. Angela Beard and Jaclyn Sawicki scored in a six-minute span to help the Philippines secure a World Cup spot with a
Audi, who are just two races into their Formula One journey, have parted company with team principal Jonathan Wheatley “with immediate effect,” the German team said on Friday. The 58-year-old Briton, who spent almost two decades with Red Bull, joined Sauber in April last year. Sauber were subsequently taken over by Audi. “Due to personal reasons, Jonathan Wheatley will depart the team with immediate effect,” Audi said in a statement. “The team thanks Jonathan for his contribution to the project and wishes him the best for his future endeavors. “Mattia Binotto, head of Audi F1 Project, will continue leading the team while taking over
RSS